On the 53rd day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this Sunday, April 17, Russia called on Ukrainian soldiers still fighting in Mariupol to surrender at 06:00 Moscow time, 03:00 UT, promising them life.
► Moscow has blocked the RFI website, which broadcasts information in fifteen languages including Russian. An alternative URL allows access to the site in French and Russian. RFI in Russian is also available on Telegram: https://t.me/RFI_Ru, via a VPN and in Russia in French by satellite on Hotbird.
► The site of the Russian editorial staff of RFI broadcasts Ukrainian public radio (in the Ukrainian language) from the home page
The main points:
► Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy warned on Saturday that ” elimination “of the last Ukrainian soldiers present in the port city of Mariupol besieged by Russian forces” would put an end to all peace negotiations with Moscow, which for its part claims to control almost the entire city.
►The situation in the strategic port is “ inhuman “, declared on Saturday evening the Ukrainian president, calling on Westerners to provide “ immediately the heavy weapons he has been asking for for several weeks.
► Russia announces that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and several other senior British officials entry is prohibited in the country, after London imposed sanctions on Moscow because of its military operation in Ukraine.
► The Ukrainian president said Friday night on CNN that between 2,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died since the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, adding that another 10,000 had been injured.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT)
4:47 a.m.: Marie Dumoulin, director of the Wider Europe program at the European Council on Foreign Relations, analyzes the issues surrounding the delivery of arms to Ukraine, as requested by President Zelensky.
If we don’t support Ukraine, we can be sure that it will lose the war and find itself forced to capitulate, which is not in the interest of Westerners.
01:15 am: The new sanctions will target Sperbanck, announces Ursula Von der Leyen
” We focus more on the banking sector, especially on Sberbank which represents 37% of the Russian banking sector. There are also energy issues. “said Ursula von der Leyen to the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntagwhich asked him to detail the key points of the new sanctions.
The EU has, for now, spared Russia’s biggest bank because it represents, together with Gazprombank, one of the main payment channels for Russian oil and gas, which the countries of the bloc buy despite the conflict in Ukraine .
The President of the European Commission added that the EU was developing ” smart mechanisms to have oil also included in the new sanctions.
